Introducing Speech Recognition in Schools Dragon NaturallySpeaking v.

5
CALL Centre Session 7 Building the vocabulary

Session 7 Building the vocabulary

In Session 7 the student will learn to:

‰ Analyse documents to teach NaturallySpeaking new words

‰ Use NaturallySpeaking to read and complete a comprehension exercise

Review
Session 6 covered speech output to read text and questions. In this session you
will add new vocabulary to the dictionary and then complete another
comprehension exercise.

Get started
Put on the mic, start NaturallySpeaking and select the student's voice file.

Analyse documents
Remind the student that NaturallySpeaking knows a lot of words, but doesn't have
every word in it's dictionary. To save you adding all the extra words you might need
one by one, it has a facility to add new words to the dictionary from files already on
the computer.
When NaturallySpeaking analyses the document, it not only adds new words, but
also adapts the user's voice model to the style of the text. This means it is better at
recognising text because it will 'know' about the topic you are writing about.
Before tackling a piece of writing on a particular topic - such as the Stewart Kings,
or Magnetism – you can run text about the topic through the NaturallySpeaking
Vocabulary Builder so that any new words or phrases are added.

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Introducing Speech Recognition in Schools Dragon NaturallySpeaking v.5
CALL Centre Session 7 Building the vocabulary

1. Click NaturallySpeaking
> Advanced > Build
Vocabulary.
2. Click Next twice to get to
the Analyse documents
screen.
3. Click Add, and look for
the Haggis text file that is
on the CALL Introducing
Speech Recognition in
Schools CD supplied
with this pack.

4. Open the plain text file rather than the

Word RTF one. The plain one has lines
on it, the RTF one has a ‘Word’ symbol
on it.)

5. Click on Analyse
Documents and
NaturallySpeaking will
analyse the file for new
words and style.

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Introducing Speech Recognition in Schools Dragon NaturallySpeaking v.5
CALL Centre Session 7 Building the vocabulary

6. Click Next and select the

words you want to add to the
dictionary. Only add words
you are likely to actually use
when writing. Click on Add
Selected Words to
Dictionary.

7. Click Record and speak the

correct pronunciations for
each word. Then click Done.
8. When you are asked if you
want to adapt the dictionary
to the document style, click
No (so that your dictionary is
not adapted to the style in
this text file).
9. Click Finish.

Comprehension activity - use speech output to read

questions, and then dictate the answers

Now ask the student to say "File" followed by " Open". Look for the Haggis
Questions file, and open it.
Use the computer speech to read the text and the questions. Get the student to
look back at the text to check on the answer to each question, and use speech
again, if necessary. Once the student has practised each answer, switch on the
mic and the student should dictate the answers. Use complete sentences, e.g.
"Americans and other visitors to Scotland are often told... …".
Switch the mic off and save the file as Student'sName7.

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Introducing Speech Recognition in Schools Dragon NaturallySpeaking v.5
CALL Centre Session 7 Building the vocabulary

Haggis
Americans and other visitors to Scotland are often told that the haggis
is a small three-legged creature that runs around the mountains of
Scotland. The haggis is a very well dressed creature, usually wearing a
kilt in the family tartan - Royal Stewart is the most commonly seen
tartan among the haggises in the Cairngorm mountains but you can also
catch an occasional glimpse of a haggis wearing the MacDuff tartan.
The male haggis has its left hind leg longer than its right, which means
that it has to run round the mountain in a clockwise direction or else it
will fall over and tumble down the mountainside. If a haggis forgets about
the leg problem and tries to go the opposite way, it shouts out “gardiloo”
as it falls. The female, on the other hand, has a longer right hind leg and
therefore runs in an anti-clockwise direction. As a result of the males and
females always running round the mountain in opposite directions, they
hardly ever meet. During the breeding season visitors to the Highlands
can often hear the distinctive wailing cry of the male haggis as he tries
to find a mate. The music of the Scottish bagpipes has been inspired by
the wail of the haggis.
Haggises have a very limited diet which is why they are only found in
Scotland. They eat heather (“fraoch” – spoken as “freuch”) and drink
water flavoured with berries called irnbru.
Some people say this is a myth - a story made up to confuse tourists.
They say that haggis is actually Scotland's national dish, made from the
liver, heart and lungs of a sheep, along with oatmeal, onions and spices, all
chopped up and wrapped up in a sheep's stomach and then cooked. This
seems unlikely to me - I mean, who would ever eat something like that?
The idea about the small animal with different legs seems much more
believable!

Haggis Questions

1. What are Americans and other visitors to Scotland told about the haggis?

2. Which tartans do haggises usually wear?

3. What is the main difference between male and female haggises?

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Introducing Speech Recognition in Schools Dragon NaturallySpeaking v.5
CALL Centre Session 7 Building the vocabulary

4. What do haggises shout if they fall off the mountain?

5. What was the inspiration for the music of the Scottish bagpipes?

6. What do haggises eat and drink?

7. What are the “real” ingredients of a haggis?

Recap
Dictate a few sentences about what the session has covered: analysing documents
to build a vocabulary; using text to speech to read; and dictation to answer
questions.
Say “File” then “Print” then “OK” to print the document, and then save it as
StudentsNameSession7.

If you have time….

Open a blank document and do some more dictation practice from a piece of work
the student has written before, or from a text book. Print and save as
StudentsNameSession7B.

Finish
Switch off the mic and exit. Remove and store the microphone.

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Introducing Speech Recognition in Schools Dragon NaturallySpeaking v.5
CALL Centre Session 7 Building the vocabulary

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